As the longest-tenured Knick gets closer to full game shape, his impact has already been noticeable.
Unfortunately, viewers outside of the New York market were subjected to back-to-back ESPN games this week.
During Saturday’s loss in the Bay, Doris Burke said the same things when Mitchell Robinson was on the court all night.
Karl-Anthony Towns, in the first game against Draymond Green since Green’s insensitive comments last week, got into foul trouble in the first half, causing Robinson to play a lot in the first half.
His 11 minutes played in the first half on Saturday was the most he had played in eleven months. While he occasionally showed the Mitch of old, he looked gassed for most of it. A long road trip (in which he’s played four of the games) took its toll on the big man. He registered just one rebound as his only statistic in that first half.
“When has Mitchell Robinson ever just stood on the foul line with the ball in the air?”, was something along the lines of what Burke said. She repeated her point several more times.
He. Is. Gassed.
Fast forward two nights to Monday against Miami. Mitchell Robinson played a season-high in minutes, scored a season-high ten points, grabbed nine rebounds, and had four stocks.
Burke remarked on the same broadcast that this was the Mitchell Robinson that we remember. It was a completely different man who played 16 minutes in Golden State.
Monday His impact in the first half was there, but not at its peak. He had just two points and four rebounds with three stocks in nine minutes. It was clear they wanted to keep him fresh for later in the game.
In the second half? Mitch played a season-high 15 minutes and was a +14. In the third quarter, he was +15 in just five minutes.
What happened?
When Mitch entered, the Knicks led by nine after Deuce McBride nailed a three following the lengthy delay caused by Tracy Morgan losing his lunch.
On this play, does Mitch affect Jaime Jaquez’s shot attempt? No.
However, he did something that you don’t see with KAT. While Herro drove towards the rim and was in position for a floater or lob to Kelel Ware, Robinson didn’t overplay or underplay Herro, timing his jump to deny both of Herro’s preferred options and leading to a pass elsewhere.
Oh yeah, and then he grabs the rebound with a textbook box-out of a superb rebounder in Ware.
This isn’t a Mitch-esque offensive rebound but it’s an example of how he still impacts the offense despite being offensively challenged. Last year, Robinson had a career-low 57.5% from the field. Through eight games, he’s back up to 65.4%. If he can go back to the putback machine he used to be, that’s huge.
You hear Doris Burke here? Mitch doesn’t close out like that on Saturday. His energy was just on another level.
All of Mitch’s impact can’t be shown with the limited clips that don’t show the full possession, but the difference between Towns and Robinson as a rim protector is that Davion Mitchell takes and makes the floater here instead of passing if Towns is in the way. It comes down to not only impact, but reputation. Teams don’t respect KAT there.
Speaking of KAT, we finally got extended run of him and Mitch together in this game!
The two, in ten minutes together on Monday, they had a blistering 139 offensive rating and +12.6 net rating. A big reason why? They were a menace on the boards.
Remember the clip earlier where Mitch just conceded the rebound in a close game? Here’s him sprinting for an offensive rebound and putback when up 23 points. This is what the Knicks have been missing.
The Towns-Robinson lineups have a 47 OREB% in 19 total minutes across four games. It’s easy to see why.
But first, here’s another Mitch hustle play during his fourth-quarter stretch with KAT:
Great anticipation. Didn’t foul Ware.
chefs kiss
I noticed this a few times but couldn’t get a good clip. KAT was roaming around the perimeter with Mitch on the floor. Allowing a guy whose specialty is doing the dirty work to do so, while your seven-foot elite shooter can be on the perimeter looking for C&S opportunities is tremendously valuable. Above this was yet another Mitch specialty OREB.
Look at Pelle Larsson here. He actually gets a body on Mitch, knowing his propensity to hunt down rebounds like a rabid dog.
Unfortunately, Miami forgot there’s a second seven-footer, as KAT runs baseline to get the extra possession. This lineup is dangerous.
But, ok, enough about KAT and Mitch. Why has Mitch unlocked the defense?
Consider, if you will.
When Mitchell Robinson is on the court, the Knicks have a defensive rating of 103.3 in 129 total minutes. The best defensive rating in the NBA this season is OKC’s 106.2.
To put this in perspective, only a handful of non-OKC players have a better defensive rating with a 120+ minute sample, including Aaron Holiday, Isaiah Wong(?), and Ryan Rollins.
This may even out with time, but Robinson’s impact has been shown with his averages of 1.9 stocks per game in just 16.1 minutes. On a per-36 basis, that goes up to 4.2. Remember, this is him at maybe 80%.
What about the team as a whole? While more minutes for a talented point-of-attack defender in McBride during Brunson’s injury helps, the Knicks have the second-best defensive rating in basketball at 108.2. The offensive challenges are there, but it’s important to note that they’re still down their best player.
And even with Brunson? Lineups with Robinson and Brunson have a 109.9 defensive rating in 49 minutes.
But what on the basketball court is making the overall defense better?
Aside from the obvious rim protection difference, you also see a change in role from guys like OG Anunoby.
In the original starting five, OG was the only great defender. Brunson and KAT are clear minuses, while Bridges and Hart were inconsistent. The heavy responsibility on Anunoby impacted his game as the season progressed, as if he missed an assignment, the team was utterly screwed with the rest of the personnel.
With Mitch? Anunoby has help on the backline with a center that protects the rim better and can take some defensive responsibility. This has, in turn, improved his offense.
From the day after his 40-point explosion in Denver to Mitch’s debut, Anunoby averaged 14.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists on 45/33/79 splits with 2.2 stocks per game.
Since Mitch’s season debut, he’s averaging 20.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists on 38% from 3 and 2.9 stocks. His FG% went down to 42%, but that could be because of added responsibility post-Brunson injury.
(Also, these two together have a 101.9 defensive rating in 96 minutes. Elite.)
What does all this mean? What can we learn from this?
By the time the playoffs come around, Tom Thibodeau cannot be afraid to lean on the longest-tenured Knick, who is getting closer and closer to full shape.
KAT and Mitch have a net rating of +45.9 together in 19 minutes. They need to play together more. Mitch’s impact not only improves a defense with several turnstiles but also gets the best out of their elite defensive wing in Anunoby.